The president of Belarus accused Russia and Poland of meddling in his nation’s upcoming presidential election.
While appointing new ambassadors for his government on Thursday, President Alexander Lukashenko accused unspecified people in Russia and Poland of spreading false stories that were disparaging of him and his family.
“It’s clear that the puppeteers are behind them. They are on the one side and the other side. They live in Poland and are supplied from Russia,” Lukashenko said. “We will talk about this with President Putin in the near future at a meeting.”
One of the Belarusian president’s top security officials says he believes Viktor Babariko, a man largely regarded as Lukashenko’s greatest political opponent, of being controlled by Russian “puppeteers.” Before running for president, Babariko was head of Belgazprombank, the local unit of Russia’s Gazprombank.
Russia denied any involvement, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “Russia has never, is not, and does not intend to interfere in election processes, particularly in the ones of our Belarusian ally.”
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for the past 26 years. 1995 was the last time the country had a free and fair election, according to the Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe. November’s election ended in what many perceived as rigged results when not a single opposition candidate won a seat in Parliament.
Last April, special counsel Robert Mueller released a report that detailed Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election. In the course of his investigation, he found that a Russian group called the Internet Research Agency used a widespread social media campaign to influence the results of the U.S. election.
“Using fictitious U.S. personas, IRA employees operated social media accounts and group pages designed to attract U.S. audiences,” the report read. “By early to mid-2016, IRA operations included supporting the Trump Campaign and disparaging candidate Hillary Clinton.”
